Battlefield Barrens: Zone Changes and Acquiring Kor'kron Items

Patch 5.3 introduces a new world event, Battlefield Barrens, that explores the conflict between the Alliance, Horde, and Garrosh. There's a ton of stuff to do and collect as part of this event--but it's only around for a limited amount of time.

Escorting Caravans

Different races escort the caravans depending on where they are headed to. For example, Astranaar sentinels escort the caravan going to Ashenvale, Northwatch dwarves escort the caravan going to Ratchet.

The longer you stay with a caravan, the more stacks of Caravan Escort you'll get, which stacks up to 10.

Upon successfully escorting a caravan, you will get Surplus Supplies which contains varying quantities of all four Kor'kron supplies.

When a caravan begins its trip, or is destroyed by the Kor'kron, there will be a zone-wide notification. However, it will not appear on your minimap unless you are close by.

Map

Routes

Alliance-only routes are blue, Horde-only routes are red, routes for both factions are green.

Alliance:

Dreadmist Peak > Mor'shan Rampart

Dry Hills > Mor'shan Rampart

Thorn Hill > Ratchet

Stagnant Oasis > Ratchet

Sludge Fen > Mor'shan Rampart

Wailing Caverns > West Road

Forgotten Pools > West Road

Horde:

Sludge Fen > Durotar

Southern Barrens > Crossroads

Ratchet > Crossroads

Dry Hills > West Road

Stagnant Oasis > Ratchet

Wailing Caverns > West Road

Grol'dom Farm > Far Watch Post

Northern Barrens

The Kor'kron has a greatly increased presence in Northern Barrens. The Kor'kron has marred the Northern Barrens with several encampments: a slaughterhouse, lumber camp, oil refinery, and elemental quarry.

With the addition of level 90 mobs in an otherwise low-level zone, there are some new zone drops:

Freeze-Dried Hyena Jerky: If you spend at least 10 seconds eating you will move more quickly while in the Northern Barrens for 1 hour.

Scorpion Crunchies: If you spend at least 10 seconds eating you will deal more damage while in the Northern Barrens for 1 hour.

K.R.E.: If you spend at least 10 seconds eating you will take less damage while in the Northern Barrens for 1 hour.

Durotar

The Darkspear Trolls, led by Vol'jin, have also declared open rebellion against Garrosh's regime. Sen'jin Village has many more troll guards and Razor Hill, once Escalation quests are completed, is taken over by the Darkspear.

In addition, trolls are held captive in cages, surrounded by the Kor'kron, right outside Orgrimmar.

Horde in Vale of Eternal Blossoms

Garrosh has started digging in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms, marring a sacred area.

Taran Zhu is not amused and orders Sunwalker Dezco to evacuate the Horde from Pandaria:Taran Zhu: Tauren! What have your people done! You have dredged open a scar within our sacred Vale!Sunwalker Dezco: Lord Zhu, please understand - the orc "Warchief" who ordered the deed no longer speaks for the whole of the Horde. Many voices are rising up against him.Taran Zhu: Your politics are no concern of mine. Your Horde has disrespected the sanctity of this place. You are no longer welcome here - leave at once!Sunwalker Dezco: Give us time, Lord Zhu. Give us the opportunity to bring Hellscream to justice.Taran Zhu: Sunwalker, I respect your people. You have aided us in our campaign against the Sha and the Thunder King. Otherwise, I would've already ordered the Shado-Pan to purge this entire shrine. But my patience is at an end. The Horde must leave.Taran Zhu stares grimply into the distance.Taran Zhu: Very Well, You have until season's end. No longer.Taran Zhu: We pandaren are no strangers to dealing with tyrants..The coming battle will try your souls. May the celestials guide your actions.

Possible Loot

Many ilvl 476 items were datamined yesterday that are drops from killing elites such as the Kor'kron Motivator. You'll first loot a Latent Kor'kron item, which can then be infused with a Radical Mojo to create a spec-appropriate epic with a rebellion-themed name.

Comments

Comment by misacki

This argument is way to similar to the "Pearl Harbour" vs "Hiroshima" debate, and in the end its quite equal.

Comment by Tush

on 2013/03/27 03:12:56

This argument is way to similar to the "Pearl Harbour" vs "Hiroshima" debate, and in the end its quite equal.

Indeed it is.

Comment by Bellona79

on 2013/03/27 03:22:14

Soooo anyone else thinking about April 1st coming up? Was the first thing that came to mind when looking at the headline. The picture with drawn panda's took away every doubt left... :)

Comment by mdodge2007

on 2013/03/27 03:36:17

For you Alliance goons raging about Theramore I got two words.

Camp Taurajo.

So STFU you're not above doing the same crap. While we're unseating Garrosh someone should unseat that pompous racist nutcase Varian too.

Let's see Horde destroyed Southshore, Theramore and Astranaar and those are just the ones I can think of. 2 towns and a major city and your whining and crying that you lost some camp full of tents lol.

Yes this victory will be sweet. I say lets storm the gates of Orgrimmar and after Garrosh is dead lets set the whole so called city on fire.

As for Varian being any where near as horrible as Garrosh you must be drinking the coolaid. Varian is noble and respectable and he is pretty much the only reason the other Alliance races have not gone wild on the Horde.

I'm sorry to let you down but I don't think any of those are major towns. I don't know many ppl that hung out in any of those places lol

Comment by woodford079

on 2013/03/27 03:44:19

For you Alliance goons raging about Theramore I got two words.

Camp Taurajo.

So STFU you're not above doing the same crap. While we're unseating Garrosh someone should unseat that pompous racist nutcase Varian too.

Let's see Horde destroyed Southshore, Theramore and Astranaar and those are just the ones I can think of. 2 towns and a major city and your whining and crying that you lost some camp full of tents lol.

Yes this victory will be sweet. I say lets storm the gates of Orgrimmar and after Garrosh is dead lets set the whole so called city on fire.

As for Varian being any where near as horrible as Garrosh you must be drinking the coolaid. Varian is noble and respectable and he is pretty much the only reason the other Alliance races have not gone wild on the Horde.

I'm sorry to let you down but I don't think any of those are major towns. I don't know many ppl that hung out in any of those places lol

The exact same could be said about Camp Taurajo.

Comment by Tush

on 2013/03/27 03:58:12

For you Alliance goons raging about Theramore I got two words.

Camp Taurajo.

So STFU you're not above doing the same crap. While we're unseating Garrosh someone should unseat that pompous racist nutcase Varian too.

Let's see Horde destroyed Southshore, Theramore and Astranaar and those are just the ones I can think of. 2 towns and a major city and your whining and crying that you lost some camp full of tents lol.

Yes this victory will be sweet. I say lets storm the gates of Orgrimmar and after Garrosh is dead lets set the whole so called city on fire.

As for Varian being any where near as horrible as Garrosh you must be drinking the coolaid. Varian is noble and respectable and he is pretty much the only reason the other Alliance races have not gone wild on the Horde.

I'm sorry to let you down but I don't think any of those are major towns. I don't know many ppl that hung out in any of those places lol

Theramore, Astranaar and Southshore.Astranaar and Theramore are capitals. Also Theramore was biggest capital after Stormwind. So Threamore was Major Capital when only Astranaar was minor capital and Southshore was important due it was northest human settlement.

Camp Taurajo wasn't so important then Theramore or Atranaar. It wasn't even capital. So please...

Comment by wrongheaded

on 2013/03/27 04:16:14

It always disturbs me a bit how shallow some players are. If you look at the pretty Alliance races and the not-so-pretty (aside from blood elves) Horde and go "yup, those Horde guys sure are the bad ones!" you failed the test. Both sides have committed what we would today call atrocities and war crimes. I guess some of you don't know about that time the Alliance put every single orc they could find in concentration camps. And that was only after some of the humans had to be talked down from genocide! But hey, I guess reading from Hitler's playbook and trying to murder children is OK as long as you won the war, right?

What really drew me in during Warcraft 3 was how you start off playing the pretty-boy paladin and it's just like every generic fantasy story. Then his good intentions lead him down a road that involves deception, murder, and finally corruption by the evil he was trying to fight. Meanwhile we learn that some orcs are trying to move past the blood curse, struggling in an alien world to find a home for themselves as the baggage of their past crimes continues to haunt them. Or how the forsaken have to fight the control of the lich king and liberate themselves, only to be betrayed by their fellow human beings because of their grim new appearance. Is it any wonder they turned so sour?

This is what I love about the current state of Warcraft - it challenges us to look beyond those trained pavlovian responses of "humans good, orcs bad" and see a more nuanced world. Or at least that's what it's supposed to be doing... some of y'all need to get with the program!

Comment by Animosa

on 2013/03/27 04:25:13

I fear the worst, that it will become a second Azshara. :(

Comment by woodford079

on 2013/03/27 04:28:44

It always disturbs me a bit how shallow some players are. If you look at the pretty Alliance races and the not-so-pretty (aside from blood elves) Horde and go "yup, those Horde guys sure are the bad ones!" you failed the test. Both sides have committed what we would today call atrocities and war crimes. I guess some of you don't know about that time the Alliance put every single orc they could find in concentration camps. And that was only after some of the humans had to be talked down from genocide! But hey, I guess reading from Hitler's playbook and trying to murder children is OK as long as you won the war, right?

What really drew me in during Warcraft 3 was how you start off playing the pretty-boy paladin and it's just like every generic fantasy story. Then his good intentions lead him down a road that involves deception, murder, and finally corruption by the evil he was trying to fight. Meanwhile we learn that some orcs are trying to move past the blood curse, struggling in an alien world to find a home for themselves as the baggage of their past crimes continues to haunt them. Or how the forsaken have to fight the control of the lich king and liberate themselves, only to be betrayed by their fellow human beings because of their grim new appearance. Is it any wonder they turned so sour?

This is what I love about the current state of Warcraft - it challenges us to look beyond those trained pavlovian responses of "humans good, orcs bad" and see a more nuanced world. Or at least that's what it's supposed to be doing... some of y'all need to get with the program!

No Horde are the "bad" ones because they are written that way in Lore. The Orcs came through the Dark Portal and decimated Stormwind and killed every human in their path in their conquest. So we put them in concentration camps and imprisoned them. They were punished for their crimes. The Horde (as a whole isn't evil) but the Orcs and the Forsaken are very much evil and if you cannot see that then you are either blind or you have no concept of what good and evil is. Read up on some lore and then come back.

Comment by Sirslaughter159

on 2013/03/27 04:45:54

I personally believe that Garrosh Hellscream, in the end, will become the final boss of Mists of Pandaria. His hatred could spawn dozens of high powered Sha. There is good to him, if you ever played in stonetalon. There isn't much of it but it's there. Which leads me to my personal thoughts of how Pandaria will end.

* Final boss is Hellscream. Both Alliance and Horde can face him. After fighting him down to about 25% health he attempts to use a pandarian artifact, he is stunned and a massive sha of anger emerges which engages the heroes in combat. After getting the Sha of Anger down to 1% the Sha attempts to take everyone with him. Hellscream jumps in front of the bast to save the heroes who defeated the sha. When hellscream lays dieing, he is asked by some person why did he do it. He *smiles* and responds that he finally understood what his father was thinking and dies. Both alliance and horde look at each other and agree that enough blood shed was spilled today and part ways, weapons sheath, at least for now. *

Personal thoughts, any likeness or similarities are coincidental.

Comment by kingja

on 2013/03/27 04:55:10

No Horde are the "bad" ones because they are written that way in Lore. The Orcs came through the Dark Portal and decimated Stormwind and killed every human in their path in their conquest. So we put them in concentration camps and imprisoned them. They were punished for their crimes. The Horde (as a whole isn't evil) but the Orcs and the Forsaken are very much evil and if you cannot see that then you are either blind or you have no concept of what good and evil is. Read up on some lore and then come back.

Completely forgetting about the "little" fact that they had been corrupted and were being controlled by the Legion and prior to Nerzhuls corruption by Kiljaeden the orc's lived happily alongside the Draenei in peace, or that it was a human who opened the dark portal, a human who gave into power and purged his own people and became the Lich King or how a certain Katarina could blend into the higher councils of Stormwind with the corrupt arrogant humans that live and work there, or a leader who doesn't pays his citizens for there hard work in rebuilding the city only to be bitten in the ass by them.

Do you see where this is going? If you truly think that one side or one faction is more "evil" or "good" than an other you are a blind fool. They are both the same and can be as noble or brutal as each other, I might even go as far say that Blizz has slipped up abit here with the ol Orc vs Human and put to much focus on them rather than maybe putting equaling it out with the other races.

P.S apologies for any misspelling as this was some what rushed, I hope you see the point Woodfoord as I could start on the elfs prior to any alliance/horde and Illidan...

Comment by woodford079

on 2013/03/27 05:06:46

Completely forgetting about the "little" fact that they had been corrupted and were being controlled by the Legion and prior to Nerzhuls corruption by Kiljaeden the orc's lived happily alongside the Draenei in peace, or that it was a human who opened the dark portal, a human who gave into power and purged his own people and became the Lich King or how a certain Katarina could blend into the higher councils of Stormwind with the corrupt arrogant humans that live and work there, or a leader who doesn't pays his citizens for there hard work in rebuilding the city only to be bitten in the ass by them.

Do you see where this is going? If you truly think that one side or one faction is more "evil" or "good" than an other you are a blind fool. They are both the same and can be as noble or brutal as each other, I might even go as far say that Blizz has slipped up abit here with the ol Orc vs Human and put to much focus on them rather than maybe putting equaling it out with the other races.

P.S apologies for any misspelling as this was some what rushed, I hope you see the point Woodfoord as I could start on the elfs prior to any alliance/horde and Illidan...

OK let me counter everything you just said.

Yes the Orcs were corrupted by the Burning Legion. But they willingly drank the blood - they were not forced too. They did it for greater power.

The human that you speak of that opened the dark portal was being controlled by a evil titan.

The human that you speak of that was being controlled / manipulated by the Lich King (which was originally an orc) and became the Lich King. Again originally an evil orc.

Why exactly did Stormwind have to be rebuilt? Oh yeah the Orcs destroyed it.

So my apologies Kingja but if you see the Orcs as anything other than a blood thirsty, warmongering, violent and very primitive race then you just refuse to open your eyes.

Comment by TomatoSauce

on 2013/03/27 05:13:08

Top image makes me laugh :)

Comment by iqgod86

on 2013/03/27 05:20:49

Thrall saved Azeroth from deathwing

without the orc, nothing lives till this day

End of Discussion

Comment by CaoimheX

on 2013/03/27 05:26:33

I guess some of you don't know about that time the Alliance put every single orc they could find in concentration camps. And that was only after some of the humans had to be talked down from genocide! But hey, I guess reading from Hitler's playbook and trying to murder children is OK as long as you won the war, right?

Now that is an inaccurate analogy. The orcs come rampaging through the portal, tripping on the blood of a daemon, killing and burning everything they could. What should be done with them? What would you have done? Would you have given these bloodthirsty warmongers shelter? Perhaps tried to integrate them into your own society? Given them their own land? What would you have done with this army of invaders? They want to see you dead while everything you hold dear burns. What would you do with them? Bear in mind that it was these very orcs who slaughtered draenei children back on Draenor.

Or how the forsaken have to fight the control of the lich king and liberate themselves, only to be betrayed by their fellow human beings because of their grim new appearance. Is it any wonder they turned so sour?

Their "grim new appearance" is one of the lesser concerns. They are undead. Undead. They were taken down by the plague, they helped to spread it, perhaps they still do. Is it truly betrayal when a society seeks to protect itself from the same fate? Consider what you might do, if a close family member, perhaps even husband or wife, returns to you as undead. Would you embrace this rotting, moldering corpse? Complete death would have been preferable, for you and this afflicted person.

And yet the Banshee Queen continues to curse more people with undeath, and even Garrosh, the target of all the current ire, is appalled. The Forsaken should probably be angry with those responsible for their condition, instead of inventing new plagues to turn the whole world undead, which is nothing more than malice and spite.

This is what I love about the current state of Warcraft - it challenges us to look beyond those trained pavlovian responses of "humans good, orcs bad" and see a more nuanced world. Or at least that's what it's supposed to be doing... some of y'all need to get with the program!

In the posts above, it's clear that some people think that the winner on the dubious atrocity scoreboard is the bad guy. Attempts to apply the scales of justice are naïve, the creatures in these stories are creatures with feelings and emotions, they are not machines. Self-righteous attempts at empathy are not so righteous if the empathy extends to only one side.

Comment by Lordplatypus

on 2013/03/27 05:41:03

First off, READ THE GODAMN STORYLINE IN TAURAJO.They left holes in their lines for civillians to retreat through.

Southshore?I think Admiral rogers says it best.

I grew up in Southshore. My parents are buried there - what's left of them.

Watching Slyvannas betray Garithos, Grom attack alliance forces while they were attempting to avoid them, the blood elves opening dropping into the demon's laps because it was easy.Do you even understand what happened in lordaeron? the largest remaining population not in theramoore was KILLED OFF by some power-hungry dead elf with a revenge problem.

EDIT:

Thrall saved Azeroth from deathwing

without the orc, nothing lives till this day

Thrall was only the one that got hit by that spell and thus there.

If he wasn't there, a troll or a tauren, draenei or even a godamn goblin would have been there to do it.

Plus, saying go'el did something as a result of anything other than metzen having thrallgasms all the time is pointless. It's all just metzen self-inserting it into anything he can force thrall into.

That's why i read the books, they're (For the most part) out of metzen's hands.

Theramore? More like Theraless amirite?

Excuse me while i round up tauren babies and civillians to reenact taurajo.Pretty sure the quillboar will enjoy it.

Comment by woodford079

on 2013/03/27 05:47:27

CaoimheX I agree with you 100%. You spelled everything out perfectly and with crystal clarity.

The Orcs invaded Azeroth. They are not native to the world. They came here to conquer and destroy it. Yes the Alliance put them in concentration camps. We imprisoned them for their crimes. I consider that an act of mercy. They were imprisoned not killed. They have never given a human such mercy. The Forsaken are not welcomed by humans and they are not trusted by any race - not even the Horde ones. They have one goal and only one goal to kill every living being on Azeroth and convert them to undead. I have nothing at all against the Trolls or Tauren. They are noble races who want peace. The Blood Elves simply want peace and although they did commit crimes they have paid for them and are not what I would consider evil. The Goblins are basically nothing more than hired mercenaries with no real loyalties or allegiance to anyone other than who ever is paying them the most. Thrall is good. He is a honorable, respectable and trust worthy Orc. The only one! If the Orcs would follow in his foot steps then they could reshape their future and make amends for their past crimes. But as of right now the Orcs and the Forsaken are very very very evil and warmongering.

Comment by woodford079

on 2013/03/27 06:01:23

First off, READ THE GODAMN STORYLINE IN TAURAJO.They left holes in their lines for civillians to retreat through.

Southshore?I think Admiral rogers says it best.I grew up in Southshore. My parents are buried there - what's left of them.

Watching Slyvannas betray Garithos, Grom attack alliance forces while they were attempting to avoid them, the blood elves opening dropping into the demon's laps because it was easy.Do you even understand what happened in lordaeron? the largest remaining population not in theramoore was KILLED OFF by some power-hungry dead elf with a revenge problem.

EDIT:

Thrall saved Azeroth from deathwing

without the orc, nothing lives till this day

Thrall was only the one that got hit by that spell and thus there.

If he wasn't there, a troll or a tauren, draenei or even a godamn goblin would have been there to do it.

Plus, saying go'el did something as a result of anything other than metzen having thrallgasms all the time is pointless. It's all just metzen self-inserting it into anything he can force thrall into.

That's why i read the books, they're (For the most part) out of metzen's hands.

Theramore? More like Theraless amirite?

Excuse me while i round up tauren babies and civillians to reenact taurajo.Pretty sure the quillboar will enjoy it.

LOL I am going to be thinking about Metzen and this "thrallgasms" all day long lol. OMG I am going to be laughing all day over that. It's true though. Metzen wants to force his little Thrall into every freaking story he can so he can sing the praises of his beloved Thrall.

Comment by Smeisqualityfoot

on 2013/03/27 07:01:48

I personally don't understand why everyone needs to paint motivations and moral statements on whole races and factions with massive, broad brushes. It comes back to the key question that Mists poses: Why do you fight?

I would have thought that anyone following the Mists story line would have by now noticed that it's the decisions of individuals that matter. Lord Zhu went through a fall and redemption in 5.0, and the conversation above shows how he has tempered from it. He fights to defend home, and the sanctity of their holy places.

The klaxxi story pretty much states that should the old gods return, the klaxxi will side with them. Yet anyone who did the quest chain though would have a lot of respect and fondness for the klaxxi, and it's only in their total trust and respect for the player that they take you aside and tell you this. They fight to strengthen their race, weed out the weak. They don't intend to take over Pandaria. Are they evil?

The Jade forest shows what happens when mindless war breaks out in Pandaria, and the quest designers were smart. They made the players become so invested in the statue, then made us learn why it exists, then it get shattered. So much guilt to be felt, and Yu'lon isn't even angry. Yet Nazgrim and Taylor don't see it. Are they evil? Why do they fight?

The mogu turn out to be quite a complex story too. They were the keepers of Pandaria, and they acted on the words of the titans, till the titans fell silent. So after an age of war and infighting, the Thunder King rallied them around his words and his voice. He gave them meaning, and purpose. They fight to create their version of order. Are they evil?

Anduin and Wrathion are both young, powerful princes with the same goal in mind: save Azeroth. Yet they have completely competing viewpoints - power and knowledge used for the right end goal justifies use VS every action being one that is morally right. Is Anduin naive? Is Wrathion evil?

Garrosh is another complex character. He's actions are decisive, his views are black and white. yet in the end, his basic motivation is to preserve the orc race, and create a legacy where no orc should suffer again. In itself, that is a good goal, but it's in his implementation, and his "with me or against me" attitude that the evil is shown.

It is the choices and decisions that each character makes that defines them, same as you. Warcraft's story has a complex set of moral threads, it is an injustice to the story to paint a black and white moral label over a race, or faction. Look deeper.

Comment by Keelerak

on 2013/03/27 08:08:49

Begone Horde scum, the Alliance shall have Pandaria!

When will people realize that the factions are both played by same people? Seriously, preferring a green monster over a blue alien is not a reason to deserve less fun